We are planning a semester long unit revolved around robotics and programming.

Grade(s)

6

Keywords

Nxt, sillywalks, robots, light sensor, ultrasonic sensor, loops

Number of Weeks

8

Week 1

Sillywalks activity to display the functionality of the NXT kits. Use on-brick programming to move forward.

Week 2

Build cars and use Mindstorms to get the cars to move from one line to another using only the move forward block.

Week 3

Introduction to sensors. Repeat the activity from the previous week, except use the light sensor to have the robot stop on the second line. If students were done early, they could use the touch sensor to complete the activity.

Week 4

Introduction to loops. Use the light sensor and the loop block to get the robots to escape a 3-sided box (made out of black tape) without knowing where the robot starts.

Week 5

Continuation on loops and sensors to further understanding. Use the ultrasonic sensor to push robots across the room with an “invisible force”. Sensor would be on the back of the cars, and putting a hand in front of it would make the robot move forward, taking it away would make it stop.

Week 6

Begin final project. Students need to work together to pass a ball from a starting line to an ending line. Each group has its own box adjacent to the next group. Open-ended solutions.